


A Sponge's Journey: The Early Years

by Sandersedge



Series: A Sponge's Journey: The Legend of SpongeBob [1]
Category: SpongeBob SquarePants (Cartoon)
Genre: Beginnings, Bullying, Elementary School, F/M, Growing Up, Growing Up Together, High School, M/M, Origin Story, Other, Prom, Puberty, School, Teen Angst, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandersedge/pseuds/Sandersedge
Summary: This acts as a prequel to the story "A Sponge's Journey" and explains the early life of SpongeBob SquarePants. It will follow him from birth through school and right up until the point he moves into his pineapple. The story does contain chapters with strong language, sexual themes, bullying, and other things that kids growing up can and do experience. There will be a warning before chapters that include that so you can decide whether you want to read it or not.
Relationships: SpongeBob SquarePants/Original Character(s)
Series: A Sponge's Journey: The Legend of SpongeBob [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973908
Kudos: 5





	1. The Legend Begins

**Author's Note:**

> You can either read this or the second part, A Sponge's Journey, first. While they go together one isn't dependent on the other to make sense.

“Push Margaret!” the doctor said to Mrs. SquarePants. “Your little one is almost here!” 

With another grunt, the delivery room filed with the sounds of a crying baby. 

“It’s a boy!” the doctor shouted holding up a little yellow sponge for the new parents to get a look at. 

“Well how do you like that?” Harold SquarePants said. “I have a son!” 

A nurse handed a bundled baby boy over to his mom. The two parents looked down at their new addition and could only smile as the boy slept soundly in his mother's arms. 

“So what should we call our little one Harold?” Margaret asked. 

“Gee Margaret,” Harold replied. “I’m not really sure, how about Robert?”

“Hmmm,” Margaret said. “That’s not bad, but I think it needs to be a little more unique. How about SpongeRobert...oh that’s too long...wait...SpongeBob! SpongeBob SquarePant. What do you think dear?”

“I love it Margaret,” Harold said and then looked down at his baby boy. “How do you like little SpongeBob?”

The next few days were a whirlwind for the first time parents. Between being discharged from the hospital and getting settled in at home with their brand new baby, it meant lots of sleepless nights and hundreds of diaper changes. 

Before too long the new parents found their groove. Harold needed to return to work, but Margaret’s mother, Grandma BubbleBottom, came to help out her daughter as much as she could. 

SpongeBob was certainly a handful too. With boundless amounts of energy he was soon crawling all over the house and causing mischief. He would get into everything that wasn’t bolted shut and scream as loud as he could just to be heard. 

It was tiring for the entire SquarePants family, but Harold and Margaret were still overjoyed. They’d been told that they could never have a family, so when Margaret had found out she was pregnant, both sponges were in awe. Then when SpongeBob had been born, his unique shape had given his mom all sorts of issues that would prevent her from bearing another child. 

Since SpongeBob would be their one and only, they spent every spare second with him. Harold would try and teach him new things and Margaret would snuggle him late into the night. 

It went on like this for the next four years. Sure the family had their pitfalls like any family would, but they were still close and loved their little SpongeBob with all their hearts. He quickly learned how to walk and before long was chatting up a storm. It was like someone flipped a switch inside the little sponge and then locked it in the on position. Every waking moment SpongeBob spent talking away about anything and everything. 

Then in the summer of 1991, the moment came that Margaret had been fearing. It was time to sign her baby boy up for his first day of kindergarten at the Bikini Bottom School. She’d never spent more than a few hours away from her baby boy since he’d been born, and now he’d be gone five days a week for eight hours. What would she do? 

“Ok sweetie,” Margaret said to her little one. “Are you ready for your first day of school?”

“YES MOMMY!” SpongeBob yelled. “I’m so excited, I’m ready, I’m ready!” 

SpongeBob ran to the boat and was jumping eagerly while Margaret unlocked it and helped him into his seat. The whole way to school SpongeBob was telling her about all the things he hoped to learn and all the friends he wanted to make. 

As they pulled up in front of the school, Margaret helped her little SpongeBob out of his seat and handed him his backpack. He gave her a quick hug and kiss and sprinted inside. All Margaret could do was smile at her son’s excitement, then shed a few tears as she was watching her little baby go. 

The day went slow for Margaret, but she was looking forward to picking her SpongeBob up from school at three o’clock. It was finally time to go and she eagerly awaited him to come running out to the boat. 

The bell rang and the little sponge came running, holding hands with a pink starfish. 

“Mommy!” SpongeBob said excitedly. “This is Patrick, we’re best friends now! Patrick this is my mama.” 

“Hiya SpongeBob’s Mama,” Patrick said. “Ok SpongeBob, I’ll see you tomorrow best friend!”

“Bye Patrick!” SpongeBob said waving furiously at his departing friend. 

“Well,” Margaret said, happy her son had made a friend on his first day of school. “I’d ask you how it went but it looks like you had a really good day.” 

“I did mommy!” SpongeBob squealed. “It was soooo much fun. Patrick is the best and I like my teacher a lot. She’s really nice and taught us and read us stories and told us what we were going to do this year!” 

Margaret gave her son a hug and then helped him into the boat. She’d been so worried about him, but it looked like everything worked out just fine. She put the boat in drive and took off for home.


	2. Let's Go Jellyfishing

Time had flown and now SpongeBob was celebrating his seventh birthday. His best friend Patrick was standing next to him as he blew out the candles on his cake. 

“Ok son,” Harold said, picking up a wrapped box. “Time for your present.” 

“Oh wow, what is it dad?” SpongeBob said as his eyes lit up. 

“Open it up sweetie,” Margaret told her son.

SpongeBob tore open the paper and there it was, his first jellyfishing net. It was a kids version of course, but it was more than capable of catching a jellyfish. 

“WOW!” SpongeBob screamed, jumping up to huge his mom and dad. “Thank you!!!!” 

Harold then pulled another box out and went over to Patrick. 

“Here you go Patrick,” Harold said, handing him the box. “It’s a few days early but Mrs. SquarePants and I got you something for your birthday too.” 

Patrick took the box and ripped open the paper. It too was a jellyfishing net, just like SpongeBob’s. 

“THANK YOU!” Patrick yelled out and gave his best friend’s parents a hug as well. 

Both boys looked at each other and screamed in unison, then looked at their new nets and screamed again. 

Margaret and Harold were happy the both enjoyed their gifts so much. It was cute to see their enthusiasm and the look of pure excitement in their eyes. 

“One more thing boys,” Harold said. “I took tomorrow off work so we can head to the jellyfishing fields. How does that sound?”

Another scream from the boys. They wished they could go now, but it was getting dark and Harold told them it wasn’t safe to try catching the jellyfish without any light. But he told them to be up bright and early the next day so they could head out. 

Both boys slept holding their new nets that night and dreams of jellyfish danced in their heads.

For the next couple of weeks Patrick and SpongeBob would spend all day in the jellyfishing fields. They were getting pretty good and catching the creatures too. However, there was still one thing missing, the elusive blue jellyfish. 

They scouted for weeks trying to track one down, but could sadly never find one. That is until one day the young boys were laying out in the field when they saw it. 

“Look!” Patrick whispered pointing up at school of jellies. “That’s a blue one!” 

“Wow,” SpongeBob looked on in awe. 

Try as they might though, they couldn’t catch it. They tried though and at the end of the day they were just happy to have seen it. They even ran home to tell Harold all about finding the rare sea creature. When he heard the story about the boys seeing the blue jellyfish, he fumbled around in a drawer and produced two official Jellyspotters patches for the young fishers. 

It continued like this throughout the month of July, however as August approached another activity soon captured the boy's attention. They were going to spend two whole weeks away at Camp Coral before returning home to start the second grade. 

On the day they were to leave, SpongeBob stood proudly in his camper uniform complete with his backpack, sleeping bag, and official Camp Coral hat. Patrick stood next to him, not nearly as well put together, but still just as proud. 

“Alright boys,” Margaret said with a tear in her eye. “Oh I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry. Have fun you two and behave yourself.” 

“We will mom!” SpongeBob said and gave his mom a hug goodbye. 

“Bus is here boys,” Harold shouted. “Let’s get going!” 

SpongeBob and Patrick ran to the bus and climbed aboard.


	3. SpongeBob Makes a New Friend

It was day three at Camp Coral. SpongeBob and Patrick were still settling in, but already having a ton of fun. They were sharing a cabin together, along with two other boys Mack and Jack, a set of twin anchovies. 

So far SpongeBob had done all sorts of cool things. He’d been on a hike, gone canoeing, and made all sorts of neat crafts. He really liked his camp counselor, Mrs. Puff, too. She was really nice and treated all the campers with respect. 

After dinner on the third night, there was a couple hours of free time before that evening’s campfire. SpongeBob decided he’d take a walk down to the lake to look for rocks and play in the sand. 

As he walked along the beach, he suddenly heard a noise that made him jump. Not knowing what it was he prepared to fight. 

“I’m not scared of you,” he yelled, his voice trembling with fear. 

“Meow?” the voice said. 

“Huh?” SpongeBob said looking around. “Who’s there!” 

“Meow,” a snail said as it slid out from behind a rock. “Meow?”

The little snail was clearly scared as the big, yellow sponge standing before him. After seeing who’d been calling out, the snail coward back behind the rock. 

“Oh hey there little fella,” SpongeBob said, changing the tone of his voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Come on out.”

The snail cautiously slid out of its hiding spot and took another looking at the towering sponge. The snail then began to cower again and its lip was trembling with fear. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, here,” SpongeBob said, breaking off a piece of cookie he’d swiped from dinner and handed it out to the snail. 

The snail moved forward inch by inch and finally took the cookie from SpongeBob. 

“Hey buddy,” SpongeBob said and sat down on a log. “I’m SpongeBob, what’s your name?”

“Meow,” the snail replied. 

“Gary huh?” SpongeBob said as the snail started crawling up the side of the sponge’s square body. “Hey that tickles!” 

Gary made his way up and perched himself on the top of SpongeBob’s head. That’s when he let out a cough and threw up a glob of goo, the cookie clearly not sitting well with his system. 

“Ewww,” SpongeBob laughed. “That was icky, but I don’t mind. Hey do you want to come with me to the campfire? I’m sure everyone would love to meet you.”

“Meow, mew, mew, meow,” Gary said with a smile on his little snail lips. 

The pair made their way to the campfire, Gary still sitting on SpongeBob’s head. Along the way SpongeBob talked to Gary and told him all about his life. Gary wasn’t really interested but he was just happy to have found someone before he froze to death out in the woods. 

From that moment on, the two were inseparable. SpongeBob brought Gary everywhere with him and all the other campers soon took a liking to the little snail as well. 

The day came for everyone to leave camp. SpongeBob didn’t want to leave Gary behind, but he knew that he belonged here at Camp Coral. 

“Goodbye buddy,” SpongeBob said with a tear. “I’ll see you next summer OK?”

“Meow!” Gary said.

“What?” SpongeBob replied. “Gee I don’t know if I can take you home.” 

“Meow!” Gary said with hope in his eyes. 

“Well I don’t want you to freeze,” SpongeBob said with a sense of worry. “OK I guess you can come with me, hopefully my parents don’t mind.” 

“Meow!” Gary cheered. 

“SquarePants!” the bus driver shouted. “Time to load up!” 

SpongeBob grabbed Gary and the two of them made their way over to the bus. Patrick waved at the sponge and snail to take a seat next to him on the bus. As soon as the bus pulled away, the three friends quickly drifted off to sleep. 

“SquarePants, Star,” the bus driver shouted after a few hours. “This is your stop.”

Stepping off the bus, SpongeBob saw his parents standing there next to Patrick’s, Herb and Margie. SpongeBob took off running towards Margaret to give her a hug. He’d missed her so much these past two week. 

“Who’s your little friend son?” Harold asked, staring down at the snail. 

“This is Gary!” SpongeBob shouted with glee. “Gary this is my mom and dad, say hi!” 

“Meow,” Gary said looking at the two older sponges. 

“Now SpongeBob,” his mother began. “You know taking care of a pet is a big responsibility. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Yes mom!” SpongeBob said. “Gary is my bestest friend in the whole world, well other than Patrick, and I’ll take extra special care of him, I promise!”

“Ok son,” Margaret replied with a smile. 

The now family of four made their way to the SquarePants household. Harold and Margaret weren’t crazy about having a pet around the house, but when they say the amount of joy in their son’s eyes, they just couldn’t say no.


	4. SpongeBob Learns Not Everyone is Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains bullying, violence, strong language, and sexual themes.

SpongeBob is ten years old and about to enter in the fifth grade. This will be his final year of elementary school, before heading off to middle school and the next chapter of his life. 

So far his life has gone well. He was still best friends with Patrick and the two of them did everything together. Gary was also SpongeBob’s main sidekick and often joined the two boys for whatever they were up to. 

It was the first day of school and SpongeBob was his excited self. He was looking forward to new teachers and for new people to make friends with. However, at lunch on that first day four boys came up to SpongeBob. 

“Hey guys, look it’s a dish rag!” the leader of the group laughed at SpongeBob. 

“What’s your name dummy?” another boy asked. 

“Hiya fellas,” SpongeBob said, oblivious to what was happening. “I’m SpongeBob, SpongeBob SquarePants. What are your names?” 

“Get a load of this,” the leader said laughing. “It’s SquareAss. What kind of name is SpongeBob anyways, did you mother take one look at you when you were born and think what’s the dumbest name I can give this dish rag?”

“No, I don’t think so,” SpongeBob said actively trying to think back to the story of how he got his name.

“Well SquareAss,” one of the boys said. “I’m surprised you mom could even shoot you out of her vag looking like that. And I’m surprised they didn’t just toss you away like the dirty dish rag you are.”

“My parents love me,” SpongeBob said. “And I don’t think my mom shot anyone.”

“What a loser,” the leader of the group said. “This shit-for-brains doesn’t even know what a vag is.” 

“A vag?” SpongeBob asked inquisitively.

“I’m done with you SquareAss,” the leader said back. And with that he threw SpongeBob’s lunch on the floor and then pushed him out of his chair into the pile of food. 

“Why did you do that?” SpongeBob said, starting to tear up. “That was my lunch.” 

“Awe look,” the leader said in a mocking tone. “Little SquareAss is being a little bitch. Aren’t you little SquareAssBitch baby?”

“Stop it!” SpongeBob said, tears rolling down his eyes. “You’re being a meanie!” 

“Oh am I now,” the leader retorted. “Here let me show you what a real meanie looks like.” 

He threw a punch and the side of SpongeBob’s head, but his soft body absorbed the blow. The leader of the group looked confused. He then realized he was a sponge and his punches wouldn’t do anything. So he pushed SpongeBob down on the ground again and walked away. 

SpongeBob laid there crying. He wasn’t hurt, but he couldn’t believe someone could be so mean to him for no reason. 

“Oh my gosh!” Patrick said running over to SpongeBob. “Sorry buddy I was getting my lunch. Are you ok?”

“Ya Patrick I’m fine,” SpongeBob said, drying his eyes. “Those boys over there pushed me down and called me names.” 

“They’re just jerks SpongeBob,” Patrick said, helping his friend up. “Here, I got three lunches, you can have some of this one.” 

The bullying continued as the semester went on, but SpongeBob got better and better at trying to hide from the gang. He wasn’t always successful and would often endure ridicule as the boys tormented him. 

SpongeBob eventually went to the principal and told him what was going on. However, that proved to be a major mistake. The boys had gotten in trouble and were even suspended for a week due to their behaviour. 

That week had gone great too. No one was there to pick on him and he could concentrate on his studies without the fear of being humiliated.

Towards the end of that week though, SpongeBob was out walking Gary. The two of them chatted about what a great week it had been for SpongeBob. Gary was happy to see his owner in such a good mood, something he hadn’t seen in a long time. 

As they walked down the street, suddenly the gang of boys surrounded them. 

“Hey SquareAss,” the leader said. “We need to have a little discussion.” 

“Oh hi guy,” SpongeBob said nervously. He tried to push past the boys to get away from them and get back home. But the biggest of the boys grabbed a hold of his to stop him from leaving. 

“He was talking to you sponge,” the boy said, pushing SpongeBob back. 

“So SquareAss,” the leader began. “Because of you being a little bitch, the four of us got suspended. My dad kicked my ass because of you, now you’re going to pay.”

“Look guys,” SpongeBob said, scared of what was about to happen. “How about you just leave me alone and I never talk to you again?”

“You’re funny SquareAss,” the leader said. “A real comedian.”

He then pushed SpongeBob down on the ground. Gary seeing this went to his owner’s defense and bit the leader of the gang on the leg. 

“Ouch!” the boy screamed. He kicked Gary as hard as he could, sending him flying. 

SpongeBob quickly sprang up and pushed past the boys to see if his snail was ok. Gary laid there whimpering, his shell shattered into a million little pieces. SpongeBob knelt down to comfort the injured snail as tears started to well up in his eyes. 

“Oh Gary,” he cried. “We got to get you to a snail doctor!” 

As SpongeBob was knelt over, his back was to the boys. He never saw them coming up behind him and before he knew it a kick landed squarely between his legs. One of the boy's feet had connected with his most sensitive and private of pores.

He fell to the ground screaming. The pain was immense and he’d now lost control of his bodily functions. 

“What the hell?” one of the boys said, looking down at the heap of sponge. “Is...is...is hitting shitting himself? Holy mackerel, he is shitting himself. You made him shit himself.”

SpongeBob groaned and cried, his waste leaking out of his damaged oscula. He was quickly trying to regenerate to stop the flow but the pain clouded his mind and he couldn’t concentrate long enough to do so. 

As he laid there one of the boys reached down to SpongeBob. 

“Here let me help you get these shit-stained pants off,” the boy said with a laugh. In one swoop, he ripped SpongeBob’s shorts off of him, leaving him in just his underpants. 

“Oh Neptune,” one of the boys laughed, noticing the distinct lack of bulge in the front of SpongeBob’s underpants. “The sponge is dickless.” 

One of the boys reached down to rip SpongeBob’s underpants off and the little sponge tried to kick away the boy's arms. But all he got was another kick between the legs causing him to scream out in pain. 

The boy ripped the underpants away from SpongeBob, leaving him lying there nude for all the world to see. 

“He really is dickless,” the leader laughed. “NoDick SquareAss, that’s your new name shithead.” 

SpongeBob just groaned. He was hurt, embarrassed, covered in his own waste, and worried about his snail. 

“Uhhh,” the largest and dumbest boy began. “Do you even think he knows what a dick is?”

“Good point,” the leader said. “You’re smarter than you look.”

With that the leader pulled down his shorts exposing his penis to SpongeBob. He waved it around so the sponge could get a good look at it. 

“Now this is what a dick looks like,” the leader said. “Do you want to touch it? I bet you do you faggot.” 

SpongeBob groaned. His vision was blurry and couldn’t even see what the boys were doing. He wasn’t what they were talking about either. He’d never heard of a dick before and didn’t even know fish had a fifth appendage in their shorts. 

“Awww, you don’t want to touch it?” the leader laughed. “Your loss, you could feel what a man’s dick felt like.” 

With his pants still down he walked over to the injured sponge. He then grabbed a hold of his penis, aimed it at SpongeBob, and began to urinate on him. SpongeBob being extra absorbent quickly started to balloon out due to the steady stream of urine. 

“This just gets better and better,” the leader laughed as he finished peeing on the sponge. He then kicked SpongeBob in the stomach causing his urine to spray out of all his pores. 

“You’re gross SquareAss,” the leader said and then landed another kick between the sponge’s legs. 

The pain caused SpongeBob to pass out, he’d never felt like this before and he just couldn’t stay conscious any longer. 

He didn’t know how long he was asleep, but at some point he felt someone shaking him. His eyes cracked open to see his father standing over him. 

“SpongeBob,” Harold yelled. “Son, can you hear me?”

“Dad?” SpongeBob’s voice croaked. 

“Oh thank Neptune,” Harold said. “Here, cover yourself with this, we need to get you to the doctor.” 

Harold handed his son a blanket and then helped him to the boat. SpongeBob suddenly remembered his snail. 

“Gary? Gary! Where’s my Gary?” he shouted. 

“Calm down son,” Harold said. “Your mom has him wrapped up in a blanket right now in the boat.” 

They drove to the hospital to get SpongeBob looked at. Everything was fine apart from some bruising. While he’d been passed out his body had regenerated itself so there was no lasting damage. 

“What happened son?” Harold asked. “You’re mother and I got so worried about you when you didn’t come home and started searching for you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it dad,” SpongeBob replied with tears in his eyes.

“Please son,” Harold begged. “I’m here to help you.”

With a sigh, SpongeBob explained everything to his dad in gruesome detail. His dad looked on horrified as his son explained his ordeal and had to choke back tears himself. 

“That’s it,” Harold said. “We’re going to the police station.” 

“No dad!” SpongeBob said, remembering what happened last time he told on the boys. 

“Son,” Harold began. “This isn’t like telling the principal. The police will help you, I promise.” 

SpongeBob nervously agreed, but only on the condition that they stopped by Angry Jack’s Shell Emporium to get Gary a new shell. His father accepted and they drove to the shell store. 

Once Gary had a shiny new shell, the family drove to the police station. There SpongeBob told the officer what had happened and he jotted down all the notes. 

“So what now?” SpongeBob asked, nervous to be talking to a policeman. 

“Well lad,” the officer began. “Based on your story, the medical report, the damage to your snail, and the fact we’ve had a run in with these boys before, we’re going to be picking them up.” 

“You mean you’re going to arrest them?” SpongeBob asked. 

“That’s right lad,” the officer said. “This is a pretty serious incident and we have evidence. Chances are these boys will be going to the juvenile detention unit at Bikini Bottom jail. We don’t tolerate this kind of behaviour in Bikini Bottom.” 

SpongeBob was happy, his bullies were finally going to be dealt with and he’d finally be safe, Gary too.


	5. SpongeBob Becomes a Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains sexual theme dealing with puberty.

SpongeBob was now 14 years old. Ever since the bullies had been dealt with, school had been going great. He was no longer picked on and didn’t fear for his life every time he walked through the door. However, this year he’d be going into the ninth grade, meaning high school. 

On the first day of school, Patrick and SpongeBob walked together to Bikini Bottom High. Both were nervous, but were excited to see what the new school year had in store for them. 

At lunch that day SpongeBob and Patrick sat around a table with some of their new friends. They ate, told jokes, and discussed plans to see the upcoming Mermaid Man movie. That’s when SpongeBob saw her walking across the lunchroom. 

She was a bright pink sponge with glowing blue hair pulled back in a ponytail. SpongeBob was captivated by her and his raging teenage hormones let his brain know it too. 

“SpongeBob?” Patrick said. “Earth to SpongeBob!” 

“Sorry Patrick,” SpongeBob said, shaking his head. “What were you saying?”

“What were you looking at?” Patrick asked. 

“Nothing,” SpongeBob said, starting to get embarrassed. 

“You sure it wasn’t Coral?” Patrick said, elbowing his friend. 

“Coral?” SpongeBob said, wondering how Patrick knew her. 

“Ya she’s that sponge over there talking with those girls,” Patrick said, giving his buddy another jab. “We had math class together, here let me take you to meet her.” 

“No!” SpongeBob shouted. “I mean I don’t want to interrupt her.” 

“Whatever you say buddy,” Patrick said laughing. 

SpongeBob started to daydream about the pink sponge again. He was captivated by her, which was weird because he typically thought girls had cooties and wanted nothing to do with them. 

That night as he laid in bed sound asleep though, thoughts of Coral soon seemed to dance in his head. But it wasn’t like his normal dreams where he was playing a game or jellyfishing. Instead, he could see Coral looking at him while completely naked. 

She then walked over to him to give him a kiss and started rubbing up and down on his body. Even though he was asleep he felt hot and he could almost sense what Coral’s lips felt like on his as she kissed like they did in the movie. 

SpongeBob’s dream was then cut short as the sound of his fog horn alarm clock went off. He jolted awake and immediately knew something was wrong. His whole bed was wet and sticky, and so was he. He felt gross and didn’t really understand what was going on. 

He stood up and stripped off his pajamas. That’s when he noticed his pores. Surrounding them was white goo that felt weird to the touch. 

“What’s wrong with me?” SpongeBob said to himself. “I’ve never done this before. I need a shower and to get these sheets cleaned up. I can’t let my mom see this.” 

He went to work scrubbing his sheets the best he could along with his PJs. Then needing to get cleaned himself he jumped into the shower to douse himself with soap. While he washed he kept thinking back to his dream and how good it felt. 

Before he realized it he was rubbing a pore on the body of his body. It felt really good and the more he thought about the dream, the better the rubbing felt. He picked up speed, his mind firmly locked on the image of the sponge in his dream. 

Within a minute, he felt his body spasm then explode. It was a confusing feeling but as he opened his eyes he saw white goo all over the shower. 

“Yuck,” SpongeBob said to himself. “This is gross, maybe I need to see a doctor?”

After scrubbing himself clean, he gave Gary a hug goodbye and headed off for school. He made it there early and decided to see if he could figure out what’s wrong with him by looking through the library. After searching through the stack of books he finally found one that talked about sponges. 

He pulled it off the shelf and went over to a table. There SpongeBob started flipping through the pages until he found the section about teenage sponges. He read through the sections, finally getting to a section talking about the changes his body was going through.

As he read, he was grossed out at everything it talked about. One thing jumped out at him though, the part that talked about asexual and sexual reproduction. Within that section he read that sometime in the early teenage years, a sponge’s reproductive system starts to work and occasionally they could release semen through a nocturnal emission. 

_Semen?_ SpongeBob thought to himself. _I guess that makes sense, I mean I live in the sea and I’m becoming a man, so I guess it’s sea-man. I wonder how I can stop this?_

Thinking he needed to check the book out he went up to the desk. After filling out the form and handing over his student ID, he got the book and stuffed it in his backpack. 

Later that night he sat on his bed after finishing his homework and read through the book. It was still gross and it still made him feel confused. As he turned the pages, he was then interrupted by Harold. 

“Hi son,” Harold said. SpongeBob startled and quickly tried to push the book into his backpack. 

“Hi dad!” SpongeBob said in his more innocent voice. 

“What are you doing son?” Harold asked. “What did you just hide away?”

“Nothing dad,” SpongeBob replied. 

“Now son,” Harold began. “I saw you stuff something into your bag. Please don’t lie to your old man.” 

SpongeBob knew his dad was right, he shouldn’t be lying to him, especially since this was educational afterall. He pulled the book out of his backpack and showed it to his father. 

“Oh this old thing?” Harold laughed. “Oh I guess it is about that time you’d start getting curious about yourself and everything that’s changing.” 

“Wait, you know about this book?” SpongeBob asked.

“Of course,” Harold said, taking a seat next to SpongeBob. “I was once your age too and all the same things that are happening to you, happened to me. It’s natural.” 

SpongeBob and his dad talked for over an hour about everything that had been going on and while Harold was a bit bemused by his son’s questions, he was glad they were having this talk. Once they finished Harold asked his son if he wanted to go grab some ice cream together. 

SpongeBob was still grossed out by what was going on, but at least he had a better understanding now. Still he wanted to push it out of his mind, especially since ice cream was involved now and he didn’t want to spoil that.


	6. The Bully Problem Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains strong language, sexual themes, violence, and attempted rape.

SpongeBob had grown used to the new feelings he was experiencing and even began to notice girls more. However, it had been a little more than a year and he was still far too nervous to talk to Coral. Plus she’d gone through boyfriend after boyfriend.

When SpongeBob had talked to his dad about this, all Harold could tell him was 15 and that there would be plenty of time for girls later on in life. SpongeBob sort of agreed. He’d seen his friends end up with girlfriends and they’d spent all their time with them. That didn’t seem like something SpongeBob wanted to do, at least not right now. 

He liked spending time with his friends and would often hang out at the Krusty Krab with them after school. Today was no exception, however his group of friends had gone on ahead since SpongeBob still needed to talk to one of his teachers. He said he’d be there as quickly as he could. 

It only took 15 minutes or so, but his group of friends were already nearing the restaurant when SpongeBob stepped out of the school. He took off with a spring in step and began singing some made up song. 

“Hey SquareAss!” he heard someone yell. That wasn’t his name so he kept on skipping and singing. That when he felt someone come up behind him and push him to the ground. He landed with a thud and skidded across the sidewalk. 

“Oh excuse me,” SpongeBob said clearly thinking he’d run into someone by mistake. 

“No excuse me,” a familiar voice said as SpongeBob felt someone push his face into the ground. “Stand up SquareAss.” 

SpongeBob stood up and there in front of him was a group of six rather big looking fish. It took him a minute to process, but the memories of that fateful day where he’d been beaten and Gary been left lying there in pain flooded his mind. 

“Oh,” SpongeBob said meekly. “How are you doing?” 

“Fuck off,” the leader of the gang said. 

“You should watch your language!” SpongeBob said with a gasp. “You can’t say that word!” 

“What fuck?” the leader said. “Well fuck you, you fucking fuckface. How’s that?” 

SpongeBob was taken aback by the course language. Sure he’d heard swear words and even utter them himself from time to time, but he always tried to avoid them whenever possible. 

“Listen SquareAss,” the leader started back up again. “I spent three fucking years in juvy because of your little bitch ass and that fucking snail of yours. Where is he anyways, I hope he died.”

“Gary is fine,” SpongeBob said. “And look, I’m sorry about what happened, but can’t we just all be friends?”

“Oh you’ll be sorry alright,” the leader said as he lunged at SpongeBob tackling him to the ground. He then started punching the sponge, knowing full well that SpongeBob would absorb most of the blow. However, he was so mad at SpongeBob for making his life hell the past few years that the punches just started to flow. 

SpongeBob did absorb most of the punches, but his spongy skin was quickly getting damaged. Little bits of it started to float away as punch after punch connected with his body. All he did was groan as the fists flew. 

The leader of the gang then stood up and looked down and the sniffling little sponge. 

“What a faggot,” the leader said. “And do you know what faggots like? Here let me show you what some of the older boys taught me in prison. Hold him down boys.”

Two fish grabbed a hold of SpongeBob and pinned him down on the ground. The leader of the gang removed his pants and started to rub his penis, getting it hard. 

“What are you going to do,” SpongeBob said, now crying. 

“Oh I’m going to fuck you right in the SquareAss,” the leader said coming closer to him. “This is how we dealt with little bitches in the clink.”

SpongeBob’s mind started racing. He didn’t know what was about to happen and he was beyond scared. 

“Wait where do I stick it in a sponge?” the leader said, looking at the naked SpongeBob. “Hmm where was that hole you shit out of last time?”

He started kicking SpongeBob in various places before finally connecting with the sponge’s oscula. SpongeBob screamed through the tears. 

“There it is,” the leader said and spat on it to lube it up. “You’re going to enjoy this you faggot.” 

Just then a rock came flying through the air, crashing into the leader’s head. 

“What the fucking fuck?” the leader said rubbing his head. 

A whole volley of rocks now came flying striking the gang of fish, knocking one them out making two others flop on the floor bleeding from their bodies. 

“Quick get him,” a familiar voice called out. It was Patrick and he had all their friends with them hurling rocks at the gang of fish. 

Two of SpongeBob’s friends ran up to him and began to drag him out of harm's way. Patrick and the other fish laid down covering fire by launching rock after rock to allow SpongeBob a safe getaway. 

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” the leader said and jumped up off the ground. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and charged the group. Patrick had one more rock and wound up, throwing a fastball pitch right at the charging fish. It connected with the fish’s head, rendering him unconscious as he fell to the ground. 

Two of the friends ran over to unconscious fish and quickly tied his hands with an extension cord one of them had in their backpack. Another friend dialed 9-1-1 on his shellphone to get the police to the scene of what just went down. Meanwhile, all SpongeBob could do is hug his best friend. 

“Patrick,” SpongeBob said crying. “You saved my life.”

“Yup,” Patrick said nonchalantly. 

“No Patrick I mean it,” SpongeBob replied. 

“I know SpongeBob,” Patrick said. “You’d do the same for me.”

The two friends hugged again. 

A few minutes later three patrol boats pulled up and the officers surveyed the scene. 

“What in the barnacles happened he?” the officer said, trying to piece everything together. 

SpongeBob told him the story, then each one of the friends along with Patrick gave their statements as well. Everything matched up and after looking around the scene, the police concluded the gang of boys who’d attacked SpongeBob were the real criminals here. 

“You should thank your lucky stars lad,” the police officers said to SpongeBob. “If your friends hadn’t come along there’s no telling what could’ve happened to you.” 

“I know sir,” SpongeBob said looking at the officer. “They’re all heroes in my book.”

“SpongeBob?” Patrick interrupted. “Can we go get a Kraby Patty now? I’m hungry.”

“Of course Patrick, I’m even buying,” SpongeBob said with a laugh. 

A few weeks later there was a trial and after a short deliberation the leader of the gang was sentenced to 15 years in adult prison for his crimes. The two fish that had held him down would serve five and the remaining members of the gang would go on to serve varying degrees of time due to unrelated crimes. 

SpongeBob had petitioned the mayor to give his friends an award for their bravery. The mayor was all too happy to present each of the boys with a small medal for their service to the community.


	7. School's Out Forever

SpongeBob was now 17 in his final year of schooling. He was approaching the end of the semester where he’d be out of school forever. However, there was one more thing for the sponge to conquer...prom. 

“So who are you going to ask to prom?” Patrick said. 

“I don’t think I’m going to go Patrick,” SpongeBob said, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Why not!” Patrick shouted. “You have to go to prom!” 

“I don’t have anyone to ask,” SpongeBob replied. 

“What about Coral?” Patrick said. “I know you’ve had a crush on her for years. Maybe asking her would get her to like you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Patrick,” SpongeBob said. “Remember last year?” 

SpongeBob’s memory drifted to last spring when he finally built up the courage to ask Coral out. The two of them had become friends over the years and SpongeBob had always hoped that the two of them could go on a date.

After spending nearly a week of psyching himself up, he finally decided he was going to do it. He’d caught her early one morning before class started. 

_“So Coral,” SpongeBob began. “I don’t know if maybe you would like to you know maybe go on a date with me?”_

_“Oh SpongeBob,” Coral replied. “Look you’re a really sweet guy, but we just wouldn’t work out.”_

_“What do you mean?” SpongeBob said, trying to hold back tears._

_“I mean,” Coral started. “We’re just such good friends and we probably work better as friends than we would boyfriend and girlfriend. Plus we’re both always so busy that we wouldn’t have enough time for one another. It just wouldn’t be fair.”_

_“Oh ok Coral,” SpongeBob said, knowing full well he wasn’t too busy with anything. All he ever did was go to school, do homework, and hang out with Patrick._

“Oh right,” Patrick said. “Well I think you should go anyway, it’s going to be fun.”

The two friends parted ways and SpongeBob made his way to class. He was still trying to figure out what he should do. He started going through a mental list of all the potential people he could ask, but he kept coming up short. 

As the day went on he kept scanning the crowd of his classmate. Every time he thought of someone, he then remembered a reason why he shouldn’t ask them. 

He took a seat in the lunchroom, lost in thought. 

“Hiya SpongBob,” a voice said that made him jump. 

“Oh hi Sadie,” SpongeBob said looking up at his friend. “Want to sit down?” 

“Sure thing,” she said, pulling out a chair and taking a seat across from SpongeBob. “So what’s shaking?” 

“Oh just thinking,” SpongeBob said as he nibbled on his sandwich. 

“Well what’s on your mind?” she asked. 

“It’s nothing,” he replied. “I mean it is something, but it’s stupid and I don’t need to bore you with the details of it.”

“Come on Spongy,” she said in jest.

“Well I was going to ask this girl to prom,” he started. “But I couldn’t do it, then I was going to ask another girl, but thought better of it as well. Now I don’t know what to do?”

“So did you ask anyone at all?” she said. 

“Well,” SpongeBob played with his food. “Not really, I mean not at all.” 

“Dang it Spongy,” she replied. “What have I told you about doubting yourself like that. You just gotta be free.” 

“That’s easy for you to say,” SpongeBob said. “You never let anything get to you, you’re the most carefree fish I know. I wish I could be more like you.” 

“Well here,” she said. “Let’s practice it, ask me to prom and you’ll see how easy it is.”

“Ok,” he started. “So Sadie will you go to prom with me?”

“You betcha square butt I will,” she said. “Go buy the tickets alright and no need to wear a tux, lets just go casual, sound good? Well Spongy, I gotta get going, remember get those tickets.” 

“Wait Sadie?” SpongeBob said as she started to leave.

“You did great Spongy,” she said walking away. “Can’t wait for our date!” 

SpongeBob sat back down confused at what just happened. 

_Did she just trick me into asking her to prom?_ He thought. _I guess she did! Well there are worse people to go to prom with...like Clamfist...ugh._

SpongeBob was calmer the rest of the day, trying to figure out the whole prom thing was no longer an issue. 

“So SpongeBob,” Patrick said, meeting up with his buddy after school. “Are you going to prom?”

“Ya buddy I am,” SpongeBob said with a smile.

“Yay!” Patrick threw his arms up in the air. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

“Sadie,” SpongeBob said. 

“Wait Sadie? Like Sadie from our group Sadie?” Patrick asked confused. 

“Ya she sort of tricked me into asking her,” SpongeBob said. Then he explained the story of how she’d told him that it was just practice and then tricked him into asking her. 

Over the next few weeks SpongeBob and Sadie started hanging out more. There wasn’t any romantic feeling or anything, but SpongeBob just enjoyed being around her. He’d even gone with her to figure out what he should wear to the big dance. 

Sadie was a rocker girl through and through. She didn’t have an ounce of girly-girl in here, which is probably why SpongeBob never even considered asking her to prom. He’d always just considered her one of the guys. 

“So how do I look,” SpongeBob said coming out of the dressing room. 

“Bitchin,” Sadie said. 

SpongeBob certainly looked different than he normally did. Instead of his trademark white shirt and brown shorts, he had on black jeans and a black button up shirt. 

“Well I feel kind of goofy,” he said. “But I think I can get used to this.”

“That’s the spirit Spongy” she said and gave him a playful jab in the arm. 

“So what are you wearing?” SpongeBob asked. 

“You’ll just have to wait,” she said with a smile. 

SpongeBob went and bought the clothes then made his way out to Sadie’s boat. It was black and had band stickers plastered all over it. When she started it up, it made a rumble and she squealed the tires as she pulled out of the parking lot. 

A few days later, it was the day of prom. SpongeBob spent the day getting ready and made sure he looked perfect. He put on his jeans and shirt, then checked himself out in the mirror. 

“How do I look Gare-Bear?” SpongeBob said to his snail. 

“Meow,” Gary said. 

“Thanks buddy,” SpongeBob said. “Hey I’ll be late so don’t wait up!” 

SpongeBob came down stairs as his mom snapped away with the camera. 

“Oh you look so handsome sweetie,” Margaret said. “Honest doesn’t he look handsome?”

“Well,” Harold began. “I mean it’s not what I wore to prom, but you’re looking well put together son. Here, have fun tonight, but remember to be careful.”

Harold pulled $50 out of his wallet and handed it to SpongeBob. The young sponge thanked his dad and gave him a hug. Then he headed out to meet his date for the prom. 

It was only a couple minutes to walk over to her house, but along the way SpongeBob’s mind was racing. He knew how to dance of course, but this was the first time he’d ever had a real date with a girl, even if that girl was Sadie. 

He arrived at the front door and gave it a knock. 

“Hello?” a tall fish said that opened the door. He was middle aged and wore a faded band shirt and ripped up jeans. 

“Hi Mr. Low Tide,” SpongeBob said, sticking out his hand. “I’m SpongeBob.” 

“Nice to meet you mate,” the fish said, taking SpongeBob’s hand. “And please, Mr. Low Tide makes me sound old, the name’s Calvin.” 

“Well nice to meet you Calvin,” SpongeBob said. “Is Sadie ready yet?”

“Probably not,” Calvin said. “Her and her mom have been upstairs for hours so you might as well have a seat. So how do you know Sadie?”

“We’re friends from school,” SpongeBob said, taking a seat on the couch. “We hang out with the same group of friends. She just sort of invited herself one day and after that we kept bringing her around. 

“Ya that sounds like Sadie,” Calvin said with a laugh. “So are you and my daughter like dating or something? I don’t ask her much about that sort of stuff since she just gives me the same answer.”

“DADDY!” Sadie shouted while walking down the stairs. 

“Sorry sweetheart,” Calvin said with a laugh. 

“Wow Sadie you look amazing,” SpongeBob said staring at his date. 

Sadie wore a red and black plaid skirt and a black long sleeve top. Her black hair hung loosely, waving in a sea of curls down either side of her head. And to top it all off, she had a red ribbon tied around her neck. 

This was so out of character for Sadie, she’d almost always wear jeans and a black t-shirt, or when it was cold a flannel shirt. 

“You look alright yourself Spongy,” Sadie said with a smile. “Oh and this is my mom, mom met SpongeBob.”

“Hi Mrs. Low Tide,” SpongeBob said. 

“Oh sweetie,” she said with a laugh. “Mrs. Low Tide is my mother-in-law, please call me Tracy.” 

“Ready to rock n roll square dude?” Sadie said. 

“I’m ready!” SpongeBob said. 

“Alright you two, be safe!” Calvin called out as the pair went out to Sadie’s boat. She started it up with the familiar rumble and cranked up the radio. It was playing some song SpongeBob had never heard of, but the tune was catchy so he started jamming along. Sadie threw the boat into gear and set off for the high school with tires squealing. 

Once at prom, the pair danced to almost every song and were having an absolutely amazing time. SpongeBob was happy that Sadie had tricked him into going and that Patrick had bugged him so much about it. 

As the night was winding down, the pair were sitting at the table, exhausted from dancing. 

“Let’s get out of here Spongy,” she said with a smile. 

SpongeBob didn’t really know what was going to happen next. He’d seen enough movies to know that after prom you go to Make-Out Point or something like that. Since he’d never had his first kiss before, his stomach was churning. 

However, that wasn’t what was on Sadie’s mind. The two of them climbed into the boat and sped off into the night and stopped a little ways out of town. 

“Here SpongeBob,” Sadie said. “I want to show you something.” 

SpongeBob looked around but it was pretty empty. He had no idea what on Earth she wanted to show him in the middle of nowhere. 

As he watched Sadie, she climbed up on the hood of the boat. He followed her lead and took a seat next to her. They both leaned back on the windshield and looked up at the ocean above them. 

“I come out here when I want to relax,” Sadie said. “It’s just so peaceful and occasionally you’ll see a glowing three-spotted jellyfish light up the night too.” 

SpongeBob wasn’t sure if he was supposed to make the first move or what. Nothing indicated that she was interested in him romantically, but they’d had such a great night that it seemed like the perfect way to cap it off. So he took a deep breath and leaned over to Sadie. 

“SpongeBob wait,” Sadie said, holding up her fin. “Look, you’re a great guy, probably the best there is, but we can’t do this.”

“Oh,” SpongeBob said, trying to fight back some tears. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that, I just thought-”

“It’s not like that Spongy,” Sadie said with a laugh. “Look if I was interested in dudes you’d be the one and only for me, but see I’m not.”

“Wait, what?” SpongeBob didn’t understand what Sadie was saying. 

“I like girls you goof,” she said with another chuckle. 

“Oh...oh...OHHHHH,” it hit SpongeBob like a ton of bricks. “I had no idea Sadie.”

“Well I haven’t told anyone,” she said. “I’m always afraid of what others would say if I came out and said I like girls. Hell, I haven’t even told my parents. The only reason I told you is because I trust you. That’s why I brought you out here, I wanted to share this part of my life with you.”

“Gee Sadie,” SpongeBob said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have a problem with it do you?” she asked, starting to get a little worried. 

“Neptune no!” SpongeBob replied. “Look all I care about when it comes to someone is if they’re a good person or not. Anything past that doesn’t matter to me.” 

“You’re sweetie Spongy,” she said with a laugh and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t exactly what SpongeBob had in mind for the night, but a kiss was still a kiss. 

The two talked for hours on the hood of the boat. They had different plans after high school, but neither really knew what the future was going to hold for either of them. Sadie wanted to go to New Kelp City and try to find a band, while SpongeBob was going to start searching for a job here in Bikini Bottom. 

Around 2am, the pair decided they were both tired and should head home. So once again Sadie cranked up the radio and sped off at a ridiculous speed. 

The next morning SpongeBob slogged his way down the stairs. He was beat, it’d been a long night, but graduation was only a few hours away and he needed to get ready. 

“Long night eh son?” Harold said with a wink. “I don’t need to know all the details of what you and that girl did, but I just want to know, did you have fun?”

“Yes dad,” SpongeBob said. “But I promise you all we did was sit out on the hood of her boat and talk about our future for hours while staring up at the night sky.” 

“Well if that’s what you kids call it these days,” Harold said with a chuckle. 

“HAROLD!” Margaret yelled. 

After getting something to eat SpongeBob got dressed and went to meet Patrick. The two of them were going to head to the graduation ceremony, but they wanted to get there earlier to say goodbye to some friends as well as teachers. 

As they walked to the school they talked about the night before. 

“So did you get lucky?” Patrick asked, giving SpongeBob a playful jab. 

“No Patrick,” SpongeBob laughed. “I mean I was lucky for going with a great girl, but no we didn’t do anything.”

“Not even a smoochie?” Patrick asked. 

“Nope,” SpongeBob said, his cheeks turning red. 

“Well if you say so,” Patrick replied. “I got to fifth base!”

“Patrick, there’s no such thing as fifth base,” SpongeBob said, rolling his eyes at his friend. “We’ve played baseball before, there’s only four bases.”

“Oh ya,” Patrick said, suddenly remembering. “Well I got to smooch with my girl, but nothing else happened.” 

They both laughed as they made their way into the gym. Once there they chatted with their classmates before it was time to line up to get their diplomas. The stands were packed with friends and family and they crossed the stage to become official alumnus of Bikini Bottom High.


	8. Epilogue

“Oh my little SpongeBob,” Margaret SquarePants cried. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

“Mom,” SpongeBob said, tearing up as well. “I’m just going to be across town, you can come see me whenever you want.” 

“I know honey,” his mom said. “It’s just I won’t get to see your smiling face every morning.” 

SpongeBob smiled and gave his mom another hug. He was going to miss her but he was 18 now and it was time to move out on his own. Thankfully, he’d found a pineapple that was vacant and decided to make it his home. What was even better was that his best friend had found a rock nearby as well. 

“Look mom,” SpongeBob said. “I’ll be right next to Patrick and the two of us will look after one another.” 

“I know, I know,” she said, drying her eyes. “I guess this is what happens to every little boy who grows up.” 

Just then SpongeBob here a honk from outside followed by someone beating on the door. He went to open it to see Patrick standing there. 

“You ready SpongeBob?” Patrick said, pointing to the loaded down boat. 

“I’m ready!” SpongeBob shouted. He then gave him mom another hug and shook his dad’s hand before hopping in the boat with Patrick. 

The two of them had been through so much together and now they were going to be neighbours. Sure SpongeBob had thought about going to college and maybe even moving away from Bikini Bottom, but he couldn’t leave his friends and family behind. 

“You know Pat?” SpongeBob said as they putted down the road. “I can’t believe we made it this far.”

“I know this boat isn’t much,” Patrick said. “But it’s not going to break down.”

“Dahahaha,” SpongeBob laughed. “No Patrick, I mean I can’t believe we made it this far in our lives. After everything that went on throughout school and everything, we finally made it to this point.”

“Yeah,” Patrick replied. “I’m happy we’re best friends.”

“Me too Patrick, me too,” SpongeBob said with a smile.


End file.
